Oh my hell, @Aragorn.
“Trumpublicans” (or some variation) is now being recognized as a true and viable political force that has to be reckoned with. In fact; Republicans can ignore them at their own political risk, even when they are just doing their jobs. (Just ask all of the Republicans around the nation who were responsible for this last election).
Yeah, policy decisions are usually made in complicated situations with incomplete information of varying quality. The red line thing still really frustrates me but it’s long done. And it’s simply not a scandal. It’s not a scandal any more than the Iraq War was a scandal. Terrible decision is not the same as a scandal.
Hopefully a mercifully short interlude…
I still will put myself on record as saying that Trump and his followers will make things as difficult for Biden; and Republicans who do not kiss his ring; for as long as humanly possible.
He has no idea, of course, but it’s worth remembering that before he attacked the institutions of democracy for his own gain:
And I’m barely scratching the surface.
There hasn’t been a more corrupt, self-dealing president in American history. There have been so many scandals that we’ve become numb to them.
Oh there’s no question. I only hope the blight fades rapidly.
Well if we’re numb is it really a scandal? /S
Not on the same scale no. I can think of a couple honorable mentions.
@thunderbolt23…just accross the presses:
“Over 25 PPP loans worth more than $3.65 million were given to businesses with addresses at Trump and Kushner real estate properties, paying rent to those owners. Fifteen of the properties self-reported that they only kept one job, zero jobs or did not report a number at all”.
This hits home.
Our Company…after an excruciating process that required us to apply and re-apply…were strictly instructed that the funds were to used almost exclusively for maintaining the employment of our people…(which we also had to meticulously document). Believe me…it was not millions of dollars…but we were more than happy to comply in order to maintain the employment of all our people.
THIS is a scandal, that for me hits a very sore spot…
All of which will be blamed on the “Deep State” out to get him, @thunderbolt23…
(Is the “Deep State” becoming the new “The Dog who ate my Homework” for Politicians?)
The difference is not only scale and brazenness, but no one combined such efforts through abuse of power for both political gain and private financial gain. Not Nixon. Not Harding. No one.
I got a PPP loan myself. I go both ways. Offices with addresses at Trump buildings aren’t necessarily owned by Trump any more than my landlord owns me. But on the other hand having PPP loan dollars go to businesses actually owned by “billionaire business genius” is at the very least extremely fishy.
And a major shortcoming of the entire program was how many big businesses got money meant for small businesses.
Yep. Exactly. Harding was an honorable mention, but his corruption seemed to be mostly due to the fact that he made a bunch of his old pals into cabinet ministers and never really said no. Also his general disinterest in running a government (sound familiar?). He wasn’t as actively looking to exploit his position.
Agree.
Maybe, but the amount of people listening to this “Deep State” nonsense is shrinking rapidly as the buffoon in the White House continues to discredit it with its boy-cried-wolf attempts to blame it for everything.
Maybe, but I think you overestimate the number of reasonably rational people in this country…
People who can’t see the massive level of corruption from this administration are full on kool-aid drinkers. I mean that literally, as in they’re the type of people who would have followed Jim Jones into the jungle.
It appears that the corruption and grifting started before Trump was inaugurated: Ivanka Trump questioned under oath in lawsuit over use of inauguration funds | Reuters
I mean… He’s been doing shady shit for decades so…
I dunno. I think it will continue to decrease over time but you’ve got Trump supporters chanting to lock Kemp up now. Sometimes I feel like I don’t know what country we’re in any more. Trump supporters chant lock him/her/whoever up all the time. WTF is wrong with these people?
I repeat, for @pat and anyone else who is struggling:
Is it probable that a man whose life has lurched from one shady deal to another, through countless lawsuits, allegations, debts unpaid, and acrimonious business and personal relationships, and so on, continues to live in exactly the same way as president? Is it less probable than a deep state/QAnon/MSM conspiracy involving tens of thousands aimed at making this man look bad?
The answer is obvious, unless one’s sense of self is now thoroughly intertwined with Trump.
P.S. I don’t know why you’re explaining Occam’s razor to me, @pat; I’d rather you just answered that question truthfully.
You can add the list of his associates in the most recent past who ended up in jail. Although you can chalk that bit up to the Deep State I guess.
This is it exactly.
Also, I agree that Trumpism is going to impact the Biden admin’s ability to have success at any measurable level in any arena. I think in order to begin recovering nationally it’s going to take a Republican presidency built on decency and leadership. Biden, but younger and Republican. Someone the right can get behind and who has the ability and courage to genuinely lead.
I am hopeful that this can happen, but not as hopeful as I used to be. Because it’s going to take people like Bernie, who seems to wield something of a moral torch (if he’s still alive), to lead the left into acceptance and bipartisanship and I don’t know if that will happen. (Bernie comes to mind. Could be Biden or Obama…just someone who has the ear of the people along with a reputation for decency.)
And at @ Aragorn (tag not working for some reason - I think y’all are probably right. My hope is/was it’s a spell, but I think the truth is there is a really high percentage of morons for which this won’t fade.
You’re right. I mean, why wait to get your corruption going when you’ve got 8 years max to do it! “Drain the swamp” had another meaning and it had nothing to do with people.
I didn’t find this out by MSM spotted it on Reddit. Didn’t see it reported in the UK at all. The guardian UK online doesn’t even feature it on the front page.
Edit, how much of that taxpayers resource went into making this?